Improved xwater-proof s stocking



r tamed ewes 43mm Emir,

Letters Patent No. 99,412, dated February 1, 1870.

mrnovnn' WATER-PROOF srocxme.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the lame.

To all whom it may concern state, while wading rivers, the object of the invention being to dispense with the necessity of wearing heavy, bulky, and unwieldy rubber boots, and to produce a substitute which shall enable a leather shoe to be worn, to ease the foot of the wearer in travelling, and

yet possess water-proof qualitiesequal, if not superior,

to a rubber boot.

The invention consists in producing a stocking of India rubber or caoutchouo, in some of its forms or combinations, this stocking being very thin and light, and of suflicient elasticity to allow it to be drawn. tightly over the foot and leg of the wearer, or over the clothing covering the same.

In practical use, an ordinary woollen or cotton sock is to be drawn over the foot of the rubber stocking, to protect it from abrasion or fracture, which the leather shoe might occasion.

The advantages of a stocking, made as above described, are several and important:

First, it is perfectly water-proof.

Second, it is very light, and may be worn without discomfort, in this respect. Third, it allows a leather shoe to be worn, thus not only relieving the foot and leg of the wearer from much strain in travelling, but permitting a water-proof cncasement for the foot and leg to be worn, without danger of ripping or fracture from sharp rocks, 860., which often ruin rubber boots.

Fourth, While possessing the impervious qualities of a rubber boot, the shoe worn with it prevents the foot from slipping upon wet and slimy places, and, in this respect, my invention is very desirable for salmon and trout-fishin g.

Fifth, a stocking, made as contemplated by my invention, occupies very small space, and may be so reduced in bulk as to be stowed into the vest pockets of the wearer.

Sixth, while being infinitely superior, for many purposes, to an ordinary rubber boot, the stocking above described may be manufactured at the fraction of the cost of such boot.

I claim a water-proof or impervious stocking or covering for the foot or leg, or both, composed of a material suflicien'tly thin, or otherwise so made, as to be worn under an outside shoe or protecting covering, for the purposes before alluded to and explained.

Witnesses: FREDERICK CURTIS.

GEO. A. Lonme, JOHN M. GRISWOLD. 

